In 2007 South Carolina artist Mary Whyte began a series of watercolors that took her across 10 Southern states in three years. On each stop she looked for ways to capture the experiences of common people employed in such iconic but fast-vanishing Southern jobs as tobacco farmers, textile workers, cotton pickers and oyster shuckers. What resulted is the evocative catalog of faces and figures showcased in “Mary Whyte: Working South,” a collection of 50 watercolor portraits and drawings that runs through July 7 at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News. -- Mark St. John Erickson